The Morning After
by Rain16
Summary: Ranma and Akane reach the breaking point at last... what happens next? [ RA ... sequel to The Night Before ]
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: Bah, you know the drill, and I've got to get this out of my head. I don't own Ranma, okay?! Bummer there, Ranma is rather attractive… But I'm an evil man-hater, what am I saying? On with the WAFF!

Rated PG-13 for slight adult content, but not much more than is usual for me, honest. Mostly implied.

"The Morning After"

by Rain

_Pink light filters through her silk curtains, the soft breeze of early morning rustling them as they flutter across the window panes, throwing orange and pink shadows across the carpet._

_From the window you can see the butter yellow bedspread, with the worn patterns fading, crumpled in a heap on her bed. Here and there tufts of jet black and __midnight__ blue are visible; a speck of deep red or two. There is a small movement from beneath the tangled mass of sheets…_

Akane stirred slightly, decided against waking up just yet, and opted instead to snuggle deeper into Ranma's warm embrace. Sighing softly, feeling Akane shifting, Ranma wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him. Stroking the back of her neck gently, Ranma buried his face in her hair, breathing in her soft, lavender scent. Akane gave him a small squeeze in response.

Ranma kissed her lightly on her forehead, fiddling distractedly with the ties on the red Chinese silk shirt she was wearing. "'Morning," he whispered.

"Mmm," she said simply. He kissed her nose. Akane scrunched her nose up and giggled. 

"Want to get married?" he asked from somewhere near her shoulder.

"What?" Akane mumbled. "You just asked last night, baka."

Ranma chuckled softly, tracing the line of her jaw with his fingers. "I know that," he replied, kissing her shoulder again, making her smile lightly. "I mean today."

"Oh, Ranma," Akane laughed, trying to be exasperated with him, and failing miserably. "Today? Why so soon? You just--" she laughed again, as Ranma trailed butterfly kisses along her neck. "You just proposed to me last night, and you want to get married today?"

"Why not?" Ranma said. Akane would have thought he was simply asking for sake of arguing a point, but his voice was soft; more serious than she had expected.

"I didn't only propose to you last night, Akane," he said quietly, looking away.

Akane flushed slightly in spite of herself. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate the seriousness of how far they had gone last night, but Ranma was looking as if he thought she didn't understand.

"Akane, I… I don't exactly know how to explain how I feel about you, you know I'm hardly eloquent when it comes to that sort of thing, and… and this isn't much better, I know. I wish I could just… share with you… show you what you do to me, just when you look at me in that certain way that makes my heart beat faster… but I thought that was what I shared with you last night… I thought… I don't know. I'm just not sure all of a sudden whether you felt what I felt then."

Akane was shocked. That wasn't what she had meant at all. She had only thought that fiancés usually wait more than 9 hours before marrying, really.

"No, Ranma! I… You can't think I don't feel the same?"

Ranma fiddled with his fingers in that awkward way that he does. "I guess I just need to explain this to you, is all. Maybe I just need to hear myself say it… But I think I ought to tell you why you're the only girl for me… I want you to understand how I feel about you."

Akane merely looked back into his eyes questioningly. Ranma swallowed, looked down, and thought a minute about how best to put his words.

"It's just, I've… I've never opened myself up to anyone like I have with you. If there's one thing I'm really… afraid of… it's someone knowing me well enough that if I lost them it would hurt. I figured if I gave too little for someone to grab hold of, I wouldn't have to feel it when they let go… if there were nothing to let go of.

"But when I met you, I gave all I had to give without even knowing it… and it still never felt like it was enough. So, I acted like you were nothing to me at all, so that maybe, somehow, you wouldn't be anymore. But I couldn't do more than act, because… I let myself fall in love with you."

Ranma took Akane's hand, and managed to look in her eyes.

"But no matter how hard I tried to convince myself that it was a mistake… I couldn't."

Ranma looked down at Akane's left ring finger, then back to her face. 

"I couldn't do it, Akane. You've done something to me that I can't undo, but I wouldn't even if I could, because… because I know you make me into what I've spent my entire life trying to become on my own… But it's not something you can do alone, and that's what I've always been. And when I'm with you… I know here is where I belong. And I knew it then… I knew, Akane, when… when I made love to you… And I know you're the only one who makes me whole… you're the only one who makes my life worth living, and I've forgotten how to do it without you. You complete me like no one else, and I didn't need to spend the night with you to know that. If anything, I fell in love with you all over again. But I wanted to show you how I felt, because I still don't know how to put this into the right words… And I'm hoping you understand what I mean… I don't want you to get the wrong idea about--"

Akane stopped him continuing with a silencing finger to his mouth, which was on its way to running away with him. 

"Ranma, I don't have the wrong idea about how you feel, trust me," she whispered calmly. "You know I wouldn't have let you slip that ring on my finger, I wouldn't have asked you to stay with me last night… if I didn't absolutely believe that you're the only one for me, don't you?" Ranma still looked a bit unconvinced, or perhaps he was simply unsure of what she would say next.

"You're not the only one who's been alone most of these years, Ranma," Akane sighed softly. "When mother died, I buried myself in the art, and wouldn't let anyone in. Kasumi hid behind her sweetest smiles, and Nabiki bottled herself up in her numbers and hard-faced schemes. But when you came along, you found your way into my heart without even realizing, and at first I didn't either. And then, one day, I woke up and thought, "How in the name of Kami did he get to me?" And I was in too deep to pull out by then. But if I could have, I wouldn't have been happy. You left a permanent mark on my heart, Ranma, that turned everything upside-down."

"Akane," Ranma began, looking anxious and unconsciously holding her hand just a bit tighter. "I'm sorry I just barged in here and screwed everything up. I didn't mean to be--" Akane shushed him again. 

"You didn't screw anything up, Ranma, don't be ridiculous. If I felt that way, I'm sure you and your father would be long gone, and I would have buried myself again. You brought life into this house again, whether you realize it or not. If not that, at least you breathed life back into me…" Akane suddenly pulled Ranma close to her again, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Akane…" Ranma closed his eyes and held her tightly to him.

"You told me you want to marry me--"

"I do," Ranma interjected quietly. "I want to wake up to you like this every morning for the rest of my life, Akane. I want to always be beside you… and it doesn't matter when we get started, as long as we never finish."

Tears somehow found a way down Akane's cheeks, and Ranma just held her closer. 

"And while your love keeps me alive… finally, really alive… if I get to spend every night with you, Ranma, well, I guess that's just an added bonus," Akane smiled despite the tears on her face. "Whether we get married tomorrow or a year from now, as long as you never leave me, I'll always say yes. But if it's going to be tomorrow, I won't complain. If you don't mind it, then I don't," she finished, remembering that day in the dojo so long ago. 

Ranma smiled then, too. When had he said that to her? It felt like ages ago. 

Akane was looking at Ranma with very bright brown eyes. He leaned down and kissed her. This was probably the fifteenth time that morning, but really, who's counting?

"Ranma, we have school today," Akane protested halfheartedly, undecided between getting up and kissing him back.

"No we don't, it's Sunday." Ranma kissed her again.

"No it isn't, it's Monday."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

"Your point?" 

Akane just laughed. 

Not surprisingly, the next time their lips met, Akane hit the snooze button.

_They leave this afternoon, walking out the door together, towards the setting sun. The stray dogs bark into the still, placid air. The cherry blossoms float from the trees in tiny spirals towards the ground._

_They walk side by side, a quiet understanding between the both of them, towards a new road they had not yet traveled. But they came to travel it together; you can see it in their eyes if you look closely enough._

_He takes her hand and does not turn to look at her, but he has no reason to doubt any more. She squeezes his fingers delicately. They inscribe the familiar, vast circle as they walk, but for them, the journey has just begun._

_They walk with no particular urgency to their step._

_They were late coming home tonight. _

_Her curtains are still. The stars wink at them through the window, and he holds his wife just that much closer as the sparkling lights fade into the dark, quiet peace of the dreams only lovers share._

Fin.

Ooook, time for some good-natured self-bashing! 

A/N: This was… how shall I put this.. *taps chin, pondering* … my "answer" of sorts to a few people who are convinced I'm destined for lime fiction. Although, I'm sure this hardly qualifies as a lime-flavored fic, there's only implications of anything, hence the upped rating from my usual PG. 

"Feh! This is a sorry excuse for a lime fic!" scoff some people out there, no doubt. Honestly, I wasn't trying, I just thought I'd go a bit further than I had in the past. Take a few suggestions, for once. Let's just call it even and name it "lime-flavored… sort of." If the people who pointed me in this direction were way off track… DON'T flame me, lol. I don't think poor crazy ol' Rain can handle it.

This is, um, blah, sometime post-38th manga… erh… I tried to imply that Ranma and Akane got closer, Ranma proposed, and, well, one thing led to another… *coughs* I want to keep that PG-13 rating!

Sooo, anyways… I hope I get reviews for this, though if it sucks and doesn't deserve them, don't give me pity reviews, I'll delude myself, lol. 

My old email has been officially whacked, so my new one is pixel_revolution@speedpost.net

Email me if you have anything you want to chat about, if you want me to read a story for you or something like that. My AIM and Yahoo Messenger SNs are still creepyoldmanwink, though.

Let me know what you think! Let's hope I'm not losing my bizarre luster, if I ever had any!

*runs off cackling, the readers shrug, all to used to it by now*

*salutes* Well, I'm signing off for now!

Catch you around, perhaps.

::Rain

P.S. Ran -- Zellie's whacking you next, pal. Muahahaahahaa… *ahem* 


	2. Author's Notes

Author's Notes regarding "The Morning After"…

Well, hello there minna, I wasn't sure how this fic was doing. I guess I'm just a bit "eh" about whether I was out of bounds to try something new, so I'm going to see what you think. 

I decided to write the prequel to TMA, the idea just came to me out of the blue. I've already written it, but I'm still not sure if people are not liking TMA, so I posted these first.

Basically, I'm asking if you want me to post the prequel or not. If you're interested in reading it, review this chapter and tell me so, or if you're not, please review this anyhow and let me know why not, so I can get some idea of what people have thought of this fic. If more people like it than don't, I'll post the prequel and hope you all like it, if more hate it, lol, then I won't. Quite simple really. 

Thanks for reading, and I hope to hear from you soon! This will be a big help.

::Rain

P.S. If I DO get enough (positive) feedback and end up posting the prequel, I'd also like you to let me know if you'd rather I publish it one chapter at a time, or all at once? It's multiple chapters, but they're fairly short.

Thanks so much. 


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